After visiting Chucky (now Charlie) in his lovely foster home with Nicky, we fell for him & looked forward to giving him a new forever home. He had a skin problem & an ear infection & gnawed his toes & between his pads but this was already so much better after Nicky’s kindness & attention. We returned to collect him on the 8th July although feeling a bit mean as he was leaving a lovely environment with his lovely foster mum. He seemed happy enough with us in his new home, sniffing around the house & garden & meeting the chickens – on his lead – & seeing the cats from a bit of a distance. He was good as gold sleeping in a crate on his first night & every night since.

When he is 100% ok with the cats we will then leave him loose in the room where they also sleep & he can then go outside if & when he wants to. He is a lovely boy, great temperament / nature, well behaved, funny – he loves to loon about – running around all the rooms at high speed. He is a quick learner & is great socialising with all the other dogs on our walks. His skin seems to be fine now & I hold my breath when I say I think we have just seem off the ear infection finally – fingers crossed! He is still gnawing at his toes & pads a bit if he goes out of sight at home but he is so much better. I’m thinking it may just be more a habit now, than an irritation. I let him loose with the 6 chickens within the first week as he had not seemed so interested in them so much & he was great, only wandering up slowly to sniff them & when they started to run, I told him to leave & he did & he’s been great with them ever since.

Although our rescue cats (of 14 years) grew up with our last dog – a friends dog visited one day & chased them both – up the stairs & around & really freaked them out – they still remember it I think so it’s been a very slow process to see Charlie as a friend not someone who will also chase them. The word‘leave’ has been used a lot & he responds very well to it. The cats now eat quite happily on their table just a couple of feet away from Charlie eating his & last night our male cat touched noses with him while he lay in his bed – brilliant. We have taken it this slowly – almost 2 months! – as wanted to take it at the cats’ pace so they accept him without feeling pushed out at all. Within the first month I was able to walk with him off the lead in the mornings down the meadow, & along the beach & in the woods (most areas).

He was surprisingly good the first time & has been brilliant ever since. We are so pleased to have Charlie live with us, he is such a lovely boy, we love him very much.

This event went off very well and many many thanks to all the people and dogs who attended! The Mayor of Brighton has posted a splendid write up and a number of pictures on Facebook, see the following link: